Abstract Since its inception in 1982, the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Cardiac Regulatory Mechanisms meets every other year, bringing together new investigators and established leaders to present their latest, unpublished findings, and engage in meaningful scientific and social interactions. The 2016 Cardiac Regulatory GRC will be preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) organized by trainees and junior investigators. The special informal nature of the GRC/GRS is unique in fostering discussions that span disciplines and geography, and enables new personal and scientific connections to develop. The open and collegiate atmosphere of the GRC, and the young investigator-focused GRS, provides the cardiovascular research field with a platform for the free exchange of new and innovative ideas. It also offers training and mentoring for young scientists who are committed to working for the improvement of human health and reducing the overwhelming global health burden of cardiac disease. Accordingly, an extraordinarily high number of scientists return to this conference year after year, and the conference has consistently received a High-Performance Rating by the GRC Conference Evaluation Committee and Board of Trustees. There has not been a better time to bring together leading research investigators and clinicians with a common interest in elucidating regulatory mechanisms in the normal heart and how they become dysfunctional in aging and disease. The GRC setting sets the stage for significant exchange of the latest information and routinely proves to be a source of new collaborative research among basic and clinical scientists that will help promote translation of basic findings to clinical treatment. The GRS portion of the meeting gives early career scientists, fellows, and students an additional, focused, and enriched environment in which to hone their presentation, communication, and collaboration skills while closely interacting with more senior mentors. Importantly, the venue and tradition of this GRC/GRS, its emphasis on full participation and discussions, and its inclusion of mature and young investigators also ensures vestment of the next generation in the crucial issues of cardiovascular health and wellness, and continuity in the information flow towards new therapeutic strategies for tackling the growing cardiac disease burden in an aging population.